Author
Topic: Scared of Naegleria Fowleri...again (Read 400 times)

I am scared of the brain eating amoeba again. I am constantly afraid that I will get it somehow, whether it be showering, breathing in the deep sand from the wind when sweeping my driveway, or the soil from raking. I am constantly anxious that something will happen and I will contract this amoeba. Today, while sweeping out my driveway, the wind whipped up and blew some of the heavy, dark covered sand in my nose. Can I catch naegleria fowleri from this? I am sick of worrying about such a rare, impossible, condition to happen but I can't help it. Will I be okay from the sand incident? Thank you everyone, please reply.

Here is a quote directly from the CDC. I'll put in bold what you should pay attention to. "You cannot get infected from drinking water contaminated with Naegleria. You can only be infected when contaminated water goes up into your nose." If you're worried about getting it, take standard precautionary methods. For instance, don't go swimming in lakes, rivers, and other natural bodies of fresh water. If you have a pool, make sure to put the standard chemicals in there at necessary intervals, and so on. If all of this is still bothering you then wear some sort of facial protection such as just a simple surgical mask when sweeping or doing other work outside that could kick up dirt and soil, and wear one of those nose pincher things when swimming. Also, just keep in mind that from a statistical standpoint there are a few things that you're more likely to do than contract this. These include: winning the top honor as a professional athlete (World Series, NBA finals, SuperBowl, World Cup, etc), win one of the largest lottery amounts that has ever been won, or get struck my lightning (multiple times) just to name a few.